Batch Processing Sub-Products

ProductCart can automatically generate a number of Sub-Products that is equal to the number of attributes for the first option group (e.g. Colors) assigned to the Parent Product, times the number of attributes for the second option group (e.g. Sizes), times the number of attributes of the third option group (e.g. Style), and so on.

A number of fields are automatically pre-filled based on the information you provide for the Parent Product and the settings you choose on the Batch Processing page.

The following other options and fields are available on the Batch Process Sub-Products page.

You can generate sub-products for:

• All Apparel Products that exist in the store
• A specific Apparel Product
• All Apparel Products that exist in a specific category.

You should not try to batch process sub-products for all Apparel Products in the store if you have hundreds of them. Creating sub-products is a time consuming and processor intensive task. Instead, do this on a category basis. Use the product selection if you need to update a specific Apparel Product.

You can batch process sub-products in three different ways. Sub-products are actual records in the Products table in your store database. When you create/update them, existing records (existing Sub-Products) may or may not be affected depending on the option you select.

• Add new sub-products
  Existing records (if any) are left “as is”. Only new sub-products are added (if any). Use this option if you are creating sub-products for new Apparel products or if you added new option groups and/or attributes to an existing Apparel product and need to create the corresponding, new Sub-Products.
• Update existing and add new sub-products
  Existing records are updated based on the new settings, and new sub-products are added (if any). Existing sub-products therefore will be affected. They will be updated based on the information entered on the page (e.g. you are using a new image name convention) while new sub-products are added, if there are any.
• Re-create sub-products
  Existing records are removed and are re-created. Technically speaking, this means that new records in the store database will be used from now on as Sub-Products for the selected Apparel Products. The existing records are “archived” (they are removed from the Control Panel and the storefront, but remain in the products table with the removed field set to ”-1”).

To help you speed up the process of populating the product database with information for each of these product variations, ProductCart will automatically pre-fill the following fields as mentioned below. Please see Preparing for Batch Processing Sub-Products for important information on how to best take advantage of this feature.

• Sub-SKU: This is the part number of the Sub-Product, which is generated using the formula: SKU + Code1 + Code2 + Code3 + …, where SKU is the part number of the parent product, Code1 is the code (if any) associated with an attribute from the first option group, Code2 is the code (if any) associated with an attribute from the second option group, etc.
• General Image: This is the image shown when the corresponding Sub-Product is selected on the product details page. The field is not required. If you do not intend to use this image, check the Image is not available check box. The field will not be populated and the parent product's General Image will be used instead, if any. The file name will be built using one of the following naming conventions:
  • Sub-product SKU + “suffix” + “extension”
  • Product SKU + Option Code + “suffix” + “extension”
• Detail View Image: This is a larger version of the General Image. The field is not required. The file name will be built using the naming conventions mentioned above. If you do not intend to use this image, check the Image is not available check box. The field will not be populated and the parent product's Detail View Image will be used instead, if any.

• Default Stock Level
  Enter a default stock level. You can then adjust it after sub-products have been created.
• Disregard Stock
  If you are not tracking inventory on your sub-products, use this feature.
• Allow Back-Ordering
  If you want to allow customers to order product that are temporarily out of stock, enable Back-Ordering and indicate how soon you expect the products to be available again by entering a number in the Ship within N Days field.

When you use the batch processing feature, ProductCart will generate a number of Sub-Products that is equal to the total number of product variations based on all groups & attributes assigned to the product. For example: 3 colors, 4 sizes, and 2 styles will generate 24 Sub-Products.

Press the Generate Sub-Products button to start the process. ProductCart will create the Sub-Products and take you to a window that displays them all. You can then verify the field entries and manually edit any of them, if needed.